


Eavesdropper

by akisazame



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Ten Steps universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-29
Updated: 2014-07-29
Packaged: 2018-02-10 21:04:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2040099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akisazame/pseuds/akisazame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes Rise sees a little more than she wants to see.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eavesdropper

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Chisotahn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chisotahn/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Ten Steps](https://archiveofourown.org/works/475160) by [Chisotahn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chisotahn/pseuds/Chisotahn). 



> I guarantee this will not make a lick of sense if you haven't read Chisotahn's amazing Ten Steps so please do that!

Out of all the things Rise Kujikawa was or ever had been, she was definitely _not_ an eavesdropper.

Admittedly, the mental connection thing she could do with her Persona was kind of weird and just a little bit off-putting. While they were in the TV world, she could drop into someone's head and offer suggestions or input no matter how far away they were, without any effort at all. She usually only did it with Souji, or at least she tried to, but sometimes she'd catch herself drifting into other people's minds too. She didn't really know what emotion to blame it on; curiosity, boredom, protectiveness, maybe a little bit of all of them.

It wasn't until they'd gone into Yosuke's twisted version of Junes that she realized being able to connect with other people's minds could pose an actual, distinct _problem._

There was no way she could have predicted the way that the escalator to the tenth floor had crumbled beneath them, sending everyone but Souji plummeting to the floor below, but she felt guilty about it anyway. She should have sensed something was wrong, but she'd let her guard down, tucked Himiko away in the back of her mind to give herself a reprieve before the fight she was fairly certain would ensue once they reached Yosuke's Shadow. The assumption, of course, being that they would all reach Yosuke's Shadow together. Assumptions were dangerous and she needed to stop making them; it was almost hypocritical, honestly.

Teddie had blinked the rest of the team away at the last second with a brilliantly timed Traesto, and once they were safely back on the first floor of the twisted Junes Rise immediately summoned Himiko and reached out to Souji. "Senpai?!" she shouted, louder than she meant to, the panic setting in and making her skin tingle.

_I can hear you fine, Rise, no need to yell--_ She breathed a sigh of relief, slumping to the floor under Himiko's shimmering form. Once she was assured that Souji was unharmed and she'd relayed that the rest of the team was okay, Himiko faded away and recessed into that familiar, formerly unused pocket of Rise's mind. The world inside the television was strange, though; even without Himiko fully summoned, Rise could still _sense_ things. She could tell that all the other members of the team were frightened and worried; she'd only joined the team recently, but from the stories they'd told her she knew this was the first time they'd ever been separated like this. She could sense Souji, floor and floors above them now; he was deep in thought about something, a mental state of his that was already becoming familiar to her. She even thought she could sense Yosuke, just a little further away than Souji, though she didn't know much about him besides what Souji had confided, so she couldn't be sure without her Persona's assistance. 

She could definitely sense the Shadow, though. That was hard to miss.

The team was already racing back through the aisles of the strange Junes; Rise trailed behind just a little, partly because she wasn't used to the same level of physical activity as the others, partly because she was still trying to sense for Souji, to make sure he wasn't doing anything stupid. It was just her luck that something stupid was exactly what Souji was about to do.

She couldn't summon Himiko like this, not while they were running, and so she couldn't respond when she heard Souji's quiet apology in her mind. She certainly _wanted_ to, wanted to stop right there and summon Himiko and yell at him until she was blue in the face but, well, she could sense Souji's emotions right now, all knotted up and desperate, and decided it was for the best that she couldn't stop running for fear that she'd lose sight of the others.

The floors were still mostly clear from before; Souji had pushed them hard, frantic to reach his best friend. The few shadows they did encounter were easy enough to dodge or were quickly dispatched. When they reached the fifth floor, however, their path was blocked by a more powerful shadow that they'd managed to avoid before, and they had no choice but to stand firm and fight it. Rise summoned Himiko to assist them; Chie was doing her best to act as surrogate leader, but she didn't know nearly as much about shadow strengths and weaknesses as Souji did. The moment Himiko's visor lowered over Rise's eyes, however, she was hit with a massive wave of emotion coming from several floors away. She recoiled physically, staggering back and clutching at her chest, and Teddie turned around in alarm. "Rise-chan, are you okay?"

"Y- yeah," she managed, pulling herself back upright and settling in behind the visor again. "Sorry, it's just... I can feel Yosuke-senpai's Shadow... it's so strong..."

"Don't worry about that right now and tell us how to fight this thing!" Chie said, jumping from foot to foot impatiently, then swiftly dodging out of the way of the shadow's massive axe.

Rise shook her head, trying to make herself focus. "Right! Um, give me a second... fire! Try fire!"

Yukiko followed up with a powerful blast that knocked the shadow to its knees; after observing another round of combat and determining that the team had it under control, Rise turned her attention back to the overwhelming energy that was emanating from the floors above. She could see through Souji's eyes with Himiko's help, so she did just that; she saw Yosuke, pale-faced but otherwise appearing unharmed -- and she saw the Shadow, taking long strides towards Souji, a vicious gleam in its yellow eyes.

Honestly, she should have looked away, turned her attention back to the battle in front of her and let the situation upstairs play out in whatever way it was going to. Rise Kujikawa was _not_ an eavesdropper. But the look on the Shadow's face sent a chill through her, and she ignored the whispering voice in the back of her head that told her this was definitely something she shouldn't be seeing.

Usually when they were fighting in the TV world, Rise would trail behind them like a tail, not on the front lines but never too far away. She'd never had occasion to completely trespass in Souji's mind like this -- she didn't particularly like it, it felt invasive and _wrong_ \-- so she wasn't fully prepared for the way she could feel Yosuke's Shadow's arm when it draped over Souji's shoulder. "You're _special_ to me, y'know?" the Shadow was saying, and Rise's horrified reaction mirrored Souji's.

Her attention flickered back to the rest of the team, still fighting the shadow that barred their way. She checked on them, let Teddie know who needed healing, gave Chie a status report on about how much damage the shadow had taken, then her mind was away again, watching the scene unfold from Souji's point of view. The Shadow was circling Souji now, slow and deliberate, talking about Yosuke's feelings-- wait, _Yosuke's feelings?!_

Rise felt suddenly warm and a little dizzy. The only Shadows she'd seen besides her own were Teddie's and Mitsuo's, and neither of them had done anything like _this._ Of course she'd seen confessions before, not real ones but carefully scripted ones for television or movies, she'd even acted in one once, but this really took the cake. Sure, okay, the Shadow wasn't really saying anything outright, and Yosuke was mostly spluttering and spouting denial after denial--

Then the Shadow kissed Souji right on the mouth.

For a second, Rise's vision went blurry; she blinked a few times, but realized that it wasn't her eyes but _Souji's_ that were faulty. She could feel the Shadow's lips as though they were on her own, and something somewhere inside said _you need to stop this right now_ but the rest of her was frozen on the spot. She was dimly aware that she was blushing, she _must_ have been blushing, watching this was deeply embarrassing for a variety of reasons, and then Souji pulled away and she staggered again, still trying desperately to blink the haze from her eyes.

"Uh, Rise-chan?" She heard a voice calling her but it seemed very far away and indistinct. "Rise-chan, are you alright?" A different voice, maybe. She shook her head, trying to make herself come to her senses. She moved Himiko's visor from her eyes but didn't dismiss the Persona just yet; if past experience were anything to go by, she'd need to start helping Souji in battle very soon. Once her eyes refocused on the rest of the team standing in front of her, she realized that the shadow they had been fighting was long gone and they were all standing in a clump, staring at her.

"S- sorry! I was, uh. Checking up on Souji-senpai!" Her whole face was probably red now, clear out to the tips of her ears; Chie and Yukiko exchanged a glance and Kanji looked like he was about to say something, but--

There was an abrupt sound in Rise's ears, not unlike a powerful gust of wind, and she knew exactly what had happened even before she could lower the visor back over her eyes. "Senpai?!" she shouted, cupping her palms over her ears so she could hear herself better. She was in her element now, scanning the transformed Shadow from afar, assessing strengths and weaknesses, and she nearly forgot about everything she'd seen until she finished relaying information and dismissed her Persona momentarily. "We have to hurry," she said to the others, who all had deeply concerned looks on their faces. "Maybe we can get up there in time to help him!"

They all nodded and turned and ran together, Rise still a little slower than the rest, but after a moment she noticed that Yukiko seemed to be hanging back a bit too. "Rise-chan," she said once she was within earshot, "are you okay? You looked like you saw something strange back there."

Rise felt the blush returning to her cheeks and shook her head emphatically. "N- no way, Yukiko-senpai! Rise Kujikawa isn't an eavesdropper!" She forced a laugh and redoubled her running efforts, pulling a little ahead of Yukiko before she could ask any more embarrassing questions.

Rise Kujikawa was definitely _not_ an eavesdropper. At least, not anymore.


End file.
